The world’s smallest and most widely reproduced work of art, the
postage stamp was an official vehicle for extraordinary visual work for
more than 100 years before twentieth-century artists and activists
began to appropriate the format as a potential venue for their own
unsanctioned expressions. From the stamp experiments of Fluxus mail
artists like Robert Watts to fantasy stamps issued by fictional
countries, this humble canvas has been home to all manner of free
expression. The Book of Stamps
is at once an homage to and a continuation of this tradition. Sumptuously
designed and printed, this cloth-bound volume features fifteen detachable,
perforated, and gummed full-page sheets of limited edition,
artist-designed stamps by Walead Beshty, Melissa Brown, Melissa Dubbin
& Aaron S. Davidson, Spencer Finch, Carl Michael von Hausswolff
& Leif Elggren, Jonathan Herder, Mikhail Iliatov, Emily Jacir,
Julia Jacquette, Vandana Jain, Sandra Eula Lee, Line Up, Frank
Magnotta, Michael Oatman, and David Shrigley. A must-have for collectors
of artist multiples and stamps alike, the volume also includes a text
by George Pendle on the history of stamps made by artists.